One of Jamie Oliver's global team of Food Revolution Day ambassadors, Rowena Hunt, reports to Ecozine on the phenomenal success of his global campaign to promote food education:

Tracy Chapman’s timeless ballad 'We’re talkin’ bout a revolution' always sends shivers down my spine. When she laments on the word ‘revolution’ in her unmistakeable voice, somehow it has a greater impact. And while she is focusing on a revolution of a different nature to the one I’m writing about today, this one right here is no less important - and it effects every single person on the planet (not to mention the planet itself)!

The revolution I'm talkin' bout involves our collective health, our food, the food industry, food education for children and adults alike, and the decisions that we make about the health and wellness of our own bodies based upon the knowledge that we have access to.

One person is known globally, not only as a celebrity chef with an astounding following, but also for the fact that he is using his unmistakeable voice to shout from the rooftops that this situation has to change – Jamie Oliver! He started the Jamie Oliver Food Revolution (JOFR) and is raising awareness of this amazing cause through his ambassadors around the world, including myself, as we march united in one belief, beautifully articulated by Jamie himself: “it is every child’s human right to have access to food education from a young age. It’s only with this knowledge and understanding of food, where it comes from, how it affects their bodies, and how to grow, cook and enjoy it, that we will be able to fix the terrible state of global health as it stands today”.

May 15 was Food Revolution Day. Jamie Oliver and his global team of ambassadors were determined to collect 1 million signatures on a petition to take to the G20, thereby compelling governments around the globe to take notice and implement drastic changes to food education in schools. Jamie’s target was blown away, and already there are over 1.5 million supporters of the petition - with a revised target of no less than 3 million! The JOFR (Jamie Oliver Food Revolution) is hoping to initiate huge changes and the people of the world are listening! But what is it all about?

In my work as a health and wellness specialist, coaching everyone from stressed executives in Hong Kong, to music bods in London and busy parents the world over, one of my most prolific phrases must be, “we really should be taught this stuff at school”! And we should – no question. We should leave school with a basic knowledge of what nutrition is, how we assimilate nutrients from food in our bodies, what real food is, where it comes from, how to grow, prepare, and cook these foods, and what happens to our bodies when we fail to make good choices about what we eat and how we live.
But why should we care? What’s wrong with the status quo?

• 42 million children under the age of five were overweight or obese around the world in 2013.

• Kids as young as 8 years old are being diagnosed with type-2 diabetes, which used to be a disease for people over the age of 40.

• In most countries around the world diet-related disease kills more people than it ever has done before.

It is a child’s human right to have access to knowledge that will empower them to care for their own bodies though making the right choices. And we, as the adults in the situation, have the responsibility to make this happen.

So what can you do?

1) Sign the JOFR petition “to fight for compulsory, practical food education for all children in schools across the world”

4) Contact your local school to ask what they are doing to make a change

5) Act to take care of your own health and wellness and be a good example to the children in your life. They learn from us, emulate us and eventually take on our habits, good or bad, making those habits their own. Be a good example – start the revolution in your household!

“I simply want every child to plant seeds, to witness food growing, to tend to it, nurture it, harvest it, have fun cooking it, and most importantly, to enjoy eating it and sharing it with the people they love. This is absolutely the heart of the solution – food education is a complete necessity in reversing the poor health of future generations,” says Jamie Oliver.

Tips

Buy Used

Instead of going to shop for new furniture every time you make a move visit one of the second-hand furniture stores or websites and buy already used furniture. The environment and your wallet will be appreciative.